Process of basting and removal of basting



June 23, 1964 B. G. OSTMANN, JR 3,137,864

PROCESS OF BASTING AND REMOVAL OF BASTING Filed Dec. 8, 1961 BASTEFABRIC LAYERS WITH THERMOPLASTIC THREAD OOVER EXPOSED THREADS WITHABSORBENT APPLY HEAT TO I ELT BASTINO REMOVE ABSORBENT AND BASTIHGTNVENT OR BERNARD GEORGE OSTMANN, JR.

BY Maya/ MW ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,137,864 PRUQESS 0F BASTINGAND REMOVAL OF BASTING Bernard George Ostmann, Jr., Graylyn Crest,Wilmington, DeL, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company,Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 8, 1961, Ser. No.157,997 4 Claims. (Cl. 2243) This invention relates to the basting offabrics prior to permanent sewing.

In the sewing and garment-making industry, the in dividual parts of thegarment must be held together in proper alignment during stitching ofpermanent seams. This is usually accomplished by temporarily sewing thecomponents together with a basting thread, which serves to hold thepieces in place and to facilitate handling during permanent seaming.Thus, for example in the fab rication of a suit or coat, the outerfabric, the stiffening, and the facing are aligned in proper fashion andstitched together by sewing a number of seams back and forth across thefabric, the seams having a stitch length of about inch. Upon completionof the permanent sewing, the basting threads are then removed manuallyby breaking each thread and pulling it out of the fabric in pieces. Thismanual removal of basting threads is a time-consuming operation and assuch adds appreciably to the production cost of the garment. Industryhas long sought a more economical method but has not been successful insuch attempts. Thus the manual method is still used, despite itsundesirable cost.

An object of this invention is to provide a more efficient bastingprocess. A further object is to provide a faster and more economicalmethod for temporarily basting garment components and subsequentlyremoving the basting thread.

These and other objects will become apparent in the course of thefollowing specification and claims.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to thedrawing. The figure is a flow sheet showing the various steps of thepresent processes.

The objects of this invention are accomplished by basting the fabriclayers together by means of a thread composed of a low-meltingthermoplastic material. After the component fabric layers are bastedtogether, the permanent seams may be sewn in the composite by the usualprocedure. The basting threads are subsequently removed by pressing orironing the composite between sheets of an absorbent material such aspaper at a temperature sufficient to melt the basting thread butinsufficient to damage the other fibers in the fabric.

Any low-melting thermoplastic material may be used for the bastingthreads according to this invention. It is only necessary that thebasting thread be composed of a material which melts at normal ironingtemperatures and which has a melting point lower than that of the otherfibers in the fabric layers. Suitable thermoplastic materials includethe polymers and copolymers of ethylene, propylene, vinyl chloride,vinylidene chloride, vinyl acetate, acrylonitrile, etc. Polyethylene andpolypropylene with melting points of 230 to 280 F. and 325 to 335 F.,respectively, are particularly suitable. Otherfibers which are suitableinclude those from vinyl chloride copolymers, such as the Vinyon fibers.Monofilaments or multifilament threads may be used. In some cases, thelatter may be more desirable from the standpoint of sewing ease owing totheir softer, more flexible nature.

During the pressing operation, the basted fabric composite is placedbetween thin sheets of an absorbent material, such as paper toweling,tissue paper, etc. The pressing temperature is selected according to themelting point of the basting thread and the nature of the fabriccomposite. The paper, being nearer the heat source during the pressingoperation, is at a slightly higher temperature than the fabriccomposite. This factor, coupled with the absorbency of the paper, causesthe basting thread, as it melts, to adhere to the paper and thereby beremoved from the garment. In general, only a few seconds exposure to themelting temperature will be sufiicient to cause the basting thread tomelt and adhere to the paper. From the standpoint of additional economy,the removal of the basting thread may be performed in conjunction withthe final pressing of the garment. Thus an additional processing step iseliminated.

The following examples illustrate this invention. They are not intendedto limit it in any manner.

Example I Two samples of a polyethylene terephthalate/cotton (65/35)wash-wear suiting fabric are basted together by sewing seams havingseven to nine stitches per inch through the two layers of fabric. Thebasting thread used is a 67 denier polyethylene monofilament. The bastedcomposite is then placed between paper towels and ironed on both sidesusing an ordinary household iron at a cotton setting. The polyethylenebasting thread melts and sticks to the paper towels. When the papertowels are removed, no remnants of the polyethylene basting thread arefound in the fabric.

Example 11 The above experiment is repeated using an 18 denierpolypropylene monofilament as the basting thread. Again the pressingoperation causes the molten polypropylene thread to adhere to the papertowel and be thus removed from the fabric.

Many obvious equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the artfrom a reading of the above without a departure from the inventiveconcept.

What is claimed is:

1. In a process for attaching adjacent layers of fabric by thread theimprovement which comprises basting with a thread of a low meltingthermoplastic material prior to stitching with thread and after threadattachment, covering the said basting with sheets of absorbent materialfor the said thermoplastic material in the melted state, applying heatto melt the said thermoplastic material and thereafter removing the saidsheets of absorbent material with the said thermoplastic materialadhered thereto, the said thermoplastic material melting at normalironing temperatures but below the melting point of other fibers in thefabric layer.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the said basting thread is formed frompolyethylene.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the said basting thread is formed frompolypropylene.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the said fabric layers containpolyethylene terephthalate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,952,468 Smith Mar. 27, 1934 2,258,100 Reiss et al. Oct. 7, 19412,539,244 I-Ialden Jan. 23, 1951 2,714,758 Woodson Aug. 9, 19552,731,788 Donaldson Ian. 24, 1956 2,806,367 Bolles et a1 Sept. 17, 19572,898,665 Salem et a1 Aug. 11, 1959

1. IN A PROCESS FOR ATTACHING ADJACENT LAYERS OF FABRIC BY THREAD THEIMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES BASTING WITH A THREAD OF A LOW MELTINGTHERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL PRIOR TO STITCHING WITH THREAD AND AFTER THREADATTACHMENT, COVERING THE SAID BASTING WITH SHEETS OF ABSORBENT MATERIALFOR THE SAID THERMOPLASTIC MATEIAL IN THE MELTED STATE, APPLYING HEAT TOMELT THE SAID THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL AND THEREAFTER REMOVING THE SAIDSHEETS OF ABSORBENT MATERIAL WITH THE SAID THERMOPLASTIC MATERIALADHERED THERETO, THE SAID THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL MELTING AT NORMALIRONING TEMPERATURES BUT BELOW THE MELTING POINT OF OTHER FIBERS IN THEFABRIC LAYER.